Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-25

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

The best way to provide enough homes in large cities is to build tall apartment blocks.

To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The perfect solution to provide enough houses in huge cities is to construct giant apartment blocks. I agree with the statement because this enables efficient use of land and provide many people shelter.

The huge tall apartment blocks provide housing to large number of people in a single block. As tall blocks are more towards upwards which makes city walkable and efficient use of resouces with acquiring minimum space. Furthermore, people pefer to live in high rise buildings or apartments because this gives them views of sky and gives opportunity to explore nature. Moreover, giant apartment blocks gives high return on investment as it has many floors and houses so demand also rises gradually and are sold expensive as it cn be appreciating asset . For example, in Karachi we have Emaar which has high rise buildings and people enjoy views of sea from their windows and many people live their and they are on of expensive apartment in whole city. People migrating from rural to urban in large cities so it is feasible for them to live in tall apartment blocks as large chunk of these people can easily settle in it.

Also, tall aparment blocks can be solution to the problem of housing crisis which is very common in large cities, specially. To solve this problem high rise buildings and apartment blocks should be bulit as this gives a lot space to large propotion of people and even to those who are students or immigrants can live their too. Lastly, it provides access to a lot of facilities as well like car parking of its residents, shops and society can be bulit. For example, the apartment in which I live is also very tall almost eleven floors so almost 180 apartment in just 10 floor building which is quite a lot space and has facility of car parking and shops nearby so easy to live.

In conclusion, the tall aparment blocks are beneficial for large cities mainly because large cities have more population than the space they have so this makes city breathable and walkable.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by clearly stating a position agreeing with the statement that tall apartment blocks are the best way to provide housing in large cities. Key ideas are presented, such as efficient land use, economic returns, and mitigating housing crises, supported by examples like Emaar in Karachi and the author's own residential building. However, some ideas are repetitive or underdeveloped, such as the claim about exploring nature from high-rise buildings, which borders on over-generalisation. The development is mostly relevant, yet lacks deep critical analysis. It meets the Band 6 descriptor for addressing all parts of the task with relevant ideas, though some lack thorough extension and clarity.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear stance established in the introduction and reinforced in the conclusion. Paragraphing is utilised, separating distinct arguments into body paragraphs. However, logical progression is occasionally hindered by abrupt transitions and mechanical cohesive devices like 'Furthermore', 'Moreover', and 'Also'. Referencing is sometimes unclear, such as ambiguous pronoun use in phrases like 'and they are on of expensive apartment in whole city'. While the structure holds together, the management of cohesion features noticeable flaws, aligning best with Band 6 descriptors.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task, allowing the student to communicate their arguments clearly. There are attempts to use less common items and subject-specific collocations, such as 'return on investment', 'housing crisis', and 'appreciating asset'. However, there are frequent lexical errors and inaccurate word choices throughout the text, including 'provide many people shelter', 'resouces', 'pefer', 'sold expensive', and 'propotion'. These errors do not impede overall communication, but they restrict the lexical score to Band 5.5, reflecting a limited range with noticeable inaccuracies.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as relative clauses and subordinate clauses. However, grammatical accuracy is weak, featuring frequent errors in subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'giant apartment blocks gives'), missing articles (e.g., 'in whole city'), punctuation errors, and awkward phrasing (e.g., 'As tall blocks are more towards upwards which makes city walkable'). These persistent errors can occasionally cause some difficulty for the reader, fitting the profile for Band 5.

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